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52 V a lle y by t h a t t im e . He had h i r e d l o c a l l a b o r t o c o n s t r u c t f o r him an adobe b u i l d i n g a t San F r a n c i s c o t o house h i s p r i n t i n g p r e s s u sed f o r t h e p u b l i c a t i o n o f C a l i f o r n i a ' s f i r s t E n g l i s h new spaper ( B a n c r o f t , 1886, 5 5 2 ).* ^ The i n f l u e n c e t h a t B rannan and t h e members o f th e s i c k d e ta c h m e n t o f t h e Mormon B a t t a l i o n r e t u r n e d from S a n ta Fe had upon t h e a d o p t i o n o f adobe by t h e Mormons i s i n d i c a t e d by th e d e l i b e r a t i o n s o f a m e e tin g h e l d August 1, 1847— one week a f t e r t h e a r r i v a l o f th e Mormons a t S a l t L ak e. When p ro p o s a ls f o r ad o p tin g th e v a rio u s a v a ila b le b u ild in g m a te r ia ls w ere u n d e r d i s c u s s i o n a t th e m e e tin g , Brannan and members o f t h e s i c k d e ta c h m e n t o f t h e Mormon B a t t a l i o n s t r o n g l y f a v o r e d adobe: C o lo n e l Rockwood [ o f th e S a n ta Fe s i c k d e tachm en t] re m a rk e d t h a t a l o g house 16 by 15 would c o s t 40 d o l l a r s and one o f adobe h a l f a s much. C a p t a in Brown [ o f t h e s i c k d e tac h m e n t] was i n f a v o r o f s e t t i n g men t o work b u i l d i n g b o th l o g and adobe h o u se s t o h a s t e n t h e work. C a p t a i n Lewis [ o f t h e s i c k d e tac h m e n t] s a i d t h a t inasm uch a s tim b e r i s s c a r c e and we have s p a d e s and s h o v e l s and t o o l s enough, a s many a s c a n be u s e d , he i s i n f a v o r o f b u i l d i n g adobe h o u s e s and s a v i n g t h e t i m b e r . L i e u t e n a n t W i l l i s [ o f th e s i c k d e tac h m e n t] s a i d you c a n p u t up an adobe h ou se b e f o r e a man c o u ld g e t t h e l o g s f o r a lo g h o u s e . Adobe h o u s e s a r e h e a l t h y and a r e t h e b e s t f o r e q u i n o x i a l g a l e s . E l d e r B rannan h a s a man i n C a l i f o r n i a who w i l l t a k e t h r e e men an d make adobes f o r a t h i r t y f o o t h o u s e , b u i l d t h e h o u se and p u t a f a m ily i n i t i n a week. H is p r i n t i n g o f f i c e was p u t up i n f o u r t e e n days and a p a p e r p r i n t e d . . . . I t was v o te d t o p u t up a s to c k a d e o f adobe h o u s e s . ( C la y to n , 337) l O T i t l e d t h e Y erba Buena C a l i f o r n i a S t a r , t h e p a p e r was f o r g e n e r a l c i r c u l a t i o n , n o t r e s t r i c t e d t o Mormon in te re sts. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.